‘The Rising’ (Tor Books)

BEST-SELLING authors Heather Graham and Jon Land team up to create “The Rising,” an exciting and wonderful character-driven first book in an imaginative series.

Alex Chin is a football hero and homecoming king in his senior year at St. Ignatius High School. He’s having a bit of trouble with math, so fellow student Samantha Dixon helps him out. She’s working on a NASA internship, and her studies mean everything to her. Samantha will not acknowledge it, but she has a huge crush on Alex even though he doesn’t acknowledge her beyond getting her help for his studies.

A football game changes everything. Alex is laid flat after a terrifying hit, strapped to a gurney and taken to the hospital. His life is changed forever. People close to him begin dying, and when Samantha runs to Alex’s parents to tell them what’s happening, she finds them dead, too. Now she’s in the middle of things as well. The chase begins and it’s difficult for them to trust anyone except each other. The main question they both ask: Why are they now targets?

The blending of writing styles works brilliantly with this story. Elements of romance, young adult angst, old-style science fiction and action propel this story to unexpected places. Though “The Rising” is being marketed as an adult novel, it will easily appeal to a teenage audience as well as to Graham and Land’s fans. (AP)